Nazca - Day 65 - 03/12/2012 (Monday)
It was a fairly typical night bus. Too hot then too cold. We arrived in quite early at Nazca. For there we had our bus to the hotel. The hotel seemed to be miles from the town down a dirt road. It really was in the middle of no where. We had an hour to shower and get settled in before we got picked up for our first activity. Nazca is famous for its drawings in the sand in the desert. These where made 1800 years ago but no one knows why. The only way to see them properly is from the air. Hence we were going to the airport for our flight over them.
The airport was tiny as you would expect. We had to check in by weighing ourselves. Sarah, Alice and I were up first along with 2 randoms we didn't know. We had to clear security and the guy on the desk had a long hard look at each of us to compare us to our passports. We walked out onto the Tarmac and meet our captain and co-pilot and then jumped into our 5 seater plane. It took them a few minutes to get ready and then they told us to put on our head phones. We listened (in Spanish) to the control tower and then we set off for the run way. Take off was simple but I didn't think we were going very fast when all of a sudden we were 10 meters off the ground. I guess because its only small it doesn't need to be going that fast. We headed for the desert and saw 12 or so drawings and a whole bunch of other markings. The pilot banked sharply over each' once from the right and then again from the left to ensure we all saw them. The flight didn't last long and landing was freaky to. 1 second we were really high the next second we'd touched down.
We had to wait a little bit for the others who went up after us and then we got the bus into town.
We had some lunch and then went back to the hotel. We had a few hours to kill before our next trip so we sat by the pool and soaked up the sun. At 3 we got on another bus, this time for some culture. We drove 30 minutes out the city to an old grave site and in this site they have found 12 graves with mummies still in it. Because its so dry the bodies stay preserved. They where all facing east and were wrapped in cloth. It was so windy when we were there that our legs got battered by fast moving sand. Back on the bus we went back into town and to a guys house where it makes and sells pottery. He gave us a show on how he makes it and then quickly left us in the shop. There were some cool pieces but they were a little bit to much. Next stop was a gold processing plant in someone's back yard. He gave us another show this time with mercury and very little protection and again left us in the shop. We quickly got out of that one and returned to the hotel.
That evening we were treated to a typical Peruvian meal cooked in the ground. First we had to do a ceremony to thank Mother Earth and the guys then dug it up and served it to us. It was really nice but way to much food! That evening we sat by the pool and had a few drinks. The night turned interesting when everyone jumped in the pool at 1am! Well everyone apart from Sarah's no Alice.